 Organizational Behavior (OB) can be defined as the

understanding, prediction and management of human

behavior both individually or in a group that occur within an
organization.
While working in an organization, it is very important to understand others behavior
as well as make others understand ours. In order to maintain a healthy working
environment, we need to adapt to the environment and understand the goals we
need to achieve.
Following points bring out the importance of OB:
It helps in explaining the interpersonal relationships employees share with each
other as well as with their higher and lower subordinates.

The prediction of individual behavior can be explained.

It balances the cordial relationship in an enterprise by maintaining effective

communication.

It assists in marketing.

It helps managers to encourage their sub-ordinates.

Any change within the organization can be made easier.

It helps in predicting human behavior & their application to achieve organizational

goals.

It helps in making the organization more effective.

Various Challenges
There are some tough challenges a manager has to deal
with while trying to balance everything. Following are
some challenges a manager has to deal with:
Managing workforce diversity: Manager shouldn’t create
or encourage discrimination among employees.
Employees from different background, culture, and
ethnicity should be treated as equal and rewards should
be given only on the basis of work.

Improving quality and productivity: It is the sole

responsibility of the manager to increase the productivity
without hampering the quality. It can be done in two
ways:

o Totally quality management: That is constant focus on

customer satisfaction by improving organizational
process.

o Process of engineering: Focusing on the manufacturing

of the product, so that the quality is not compromised.
 Responding to labor storage: If there is a labor shortage then
the manager should quickly respond to solve this problem by
arranging for the workforce required so that the product
delivery is not delayed.

Eradication of labor shortage: The manager needs to take

quick action, if there is a labor shortage and should assure
with backup plans so that there is no labor shortage in future.

Improving customer service: Manager faces the challenge to

constantly improve customer service to survive in an ever-
competitive environment.

 Improving ethical behavior: Managers should make sure that

the employees behave properly and maintain the decorum of
the company. These are few major challenges a manager
faces while trying to complete a project. To maintain work-
life balance and for the betterment of the organization, the
manager should try level best to resolve these challenges.
 DETERMINANTS OF OB

There are three major factors that affect OB. The

working environment being the base for all three
factors, they are also known as the determinants
of OB. The three determinants are:
People
Structure
Technology
Environment
 All companies function within a given internal and
external environment.
#Internal environment can be defined as the
conditions, factors, and elements within an
enterprise that influences the activities, choices
made by the firm, and especially the behavior of the
employees.
#While external environment can be defined as
outside factors that affect the company's ability to
operate. Some of them can be manipulated by the
company’s marketing, while others require the
company to make adjustments.
Some examples of internal environment include
employee morale, culture changes, financial
changes or issues, and some examples of external
environment include political factors, changes to the
economy and the company itself.
PEOPLE
 An organization consists of people with different
traits, personality, skills, qualities, interests,
background, beliefs, values and intelligence. In
order to maintain a healthy environment, all the
employees should be treated equally and be
judged according to their work and other aspects
that affects the firm.
 Example: A company offers campus placement to
trainees from different states like Orissa, Haryana,
Arunachal Pradesh and many more. However,
during and after training, all trainees are
examined only on the basis of their performance
in the tasks assigned.
Organizational Structure
 Structure is the layout design of an organization. It
is the construction and arrangement of
relationships, strategies according to the
organizational goal.
 Example: Organizational structure defines the
relation of a manager with employees and co-
workers.
Technology
 Technology can be defined as the implementation of
scientific knowledge for practical usage. It also
provides the resources required by the people that
affect their work and task performance in the right
direction.
 Example: Introduction of SAP, big data and other
software in the market determines individual and
organizational performance.
These are: (1) Inherited characteristics, and
(2) Learned characteristics.
Let us explain each of these two in more detail.

Some of the inherited characteristics are:

1. Physical characteristics: Some of these characteristics
relate to physical
height, slim body, vision, dexterity and stamina
2. Intelligence: Intelligence is primarily an inherited trait,
even though children of some very intelligent parents
have turned out to be less intelligent and vice-versa.
3. Gender: Being a male or female is genetic in nature
and can be considered as an inherited characteristic.
4. Age: Since age is determined by the date of
birth, it is a kind of inherited
characteristicPsychologically, young people are
expected to be more energetic, innovative, risk
taking and adventurous, while old people are
supposed to be conservative and set in their
ways.
5. Religion: Religion and religiously based cultures
play an important role in determining some
aspects of individual behaviour, especially those
that concern morals, ethics and a code of
conduct. Highly religious people have high moral
standards and usually do not tell lies or talk ill of
others
Since inherited behavioural characteristics are more difficult to change or
modify, it is the learned characteristics that the managers want to study,
predict and control. Some
of these learned characteristics are:
1. Perception: Perception is the process by which information enters our
minds and is interpreted in order to give some sensible meaning to the
world around us. It is the result of a complex interaction of various senses
such as feeling, seeing, hearing, etc. Perception plays an important part in
human as well as organizational behaviour. For example, if a manager
perceives a subordinate's ability as limited, he will give him limited
responsibility,
even if the subordinate, in fact, is an able person. Similarly, we lose a lot
of good friends due to our changed perceptions about them.
2. Attitude: Attitude is a perception with a frame of reference. It is a way of
organizing a perception. In other words, it is more or less a stable
tendency to feel, think, perceive and act in a certain manner towards an
object or a situation. It is a tendency to act in a certain way, either
favourably or unfavourably concerning objects, people or events
3. Personality: When we describe people as quiet and passive or loud and
aggressive or ambitious, we are portraying an aspect of their personality.
Personality is a set of traits and characteristics, habit patterns and
conditioned responses to certain stimuli that formulate the impression an
individual makes upon others. This personality may come out as warm and
friendly, or arrogant and aggressive. Many psychologists contend that
personality traits develop in the early childhood years and very; few
personality changes can be made after the childhood years. Some
personality characteristics such as physical build and intelligence are
biological in nature, but most traits such as patience, open mindedness,
extrovertness or introvertness, etc. are learned.

4. Values: Values, generally identify a person's moral structure on

which the concept of good or bad and right or wrong is based. Values are
emotionally charged priorities and are passionately defended. Values and
behaviour are highly correlated. The values indicate behaviour pattern.
CONCEPTS OF OB
The concept of OB is based on two key elements namely:
Nature of people
Nature of the organization

Nature of People
In simple words, nature of people is the basic qualities of a person, or the
character that personifies an individual they can be similar or unique.
At the organizational level, some major factors affecting the nature of
people have been highlighted. They are:
Individual Difference: It is the managerial approach towards each
employee individually, that is one-on-one approach and not the
statistical approach, that is, avoidance of single rule. Example:
Manager should not be biased towards any particular employee rather
should treat them equally and try not to judge anyone on any other
factor apart from their work.

Perception: It is a unique ability to observe, listen and conclude

something. It is believing in our senses. In short, the way we interpret
things and have our point of view is our perception. Example: Aman
thinks late night parties spoil youth while Anamika thinks late night
parties are a way of making new friends. Here we see both Aman and
Anamika have different perception about the same thing.
 A whole person: As we all know that a person’s skill or brain cannot
be employed we have to employee a whole person. Skill comes from
background and knowledge. Our personal life cannot be totally
separated from our work life, just like emotional conditions are not
separable from physical conditions. So, people function is the
functioning of a total human being not a specific feature of human
being.

Motivated behavior: It is the behavior implanted or caused by some

motivation from some person, group or even a situation. In an
organization, we can see two different types of motivated employees:

o Positive motivation: Encouraging others to change their behavior or

say complete a task by luring them with promotions or any other
profits. Example: “If you complete this, you will gain this.”

o Negative motivation: Forcing or warning others to change their

behavior else there can be serious consequences. Example: “If you
don’t complete this, you will be deprived from the office.”

Value of person: Employees want to be valued and appreciated for

their skills and abilities followed by opportunities which help them
develop themselves.
Nature of Organization
Nature of organization states the motive of the firm. It is the
opportunities it provides in the global market. It also defines
the employees’ standard; in short, it defines the character of
the company by acting as a mirror reflection of the company.
Let us take a quick look at all these factors:
Social system: Every organization socializes with other firms,
their customers, or simply the outer world, and all of its
employees - their own social roles and status. Their behavior
is mainly influenced by their group as well as individual drives.
Social system are of two types namely:

o Formal: Groups formed by people working together in a firm

or people that belong to the same club is considered as formal
social system. Example: A success party after getting a
project.

o Informal: A group of friends, people socializing with others

freely, enjoying, partying or chilling. Example: Birthday party.
 Mutual interest: Every organization needs people
and people need organizations to survive and
prosper. Basically it’s a mutual understanding
between the organization and the employees
that helps both reach their respective objectives.
Example: We deposit our money in the bank, in
return the bank gives us loan, interest, etc.

Ethics: They are the moral principles of an

individual, group, and organization. In order to
attract and keep valuable employees, ethical
treatment is necessary and some moral
standards need to be set. In fact, companies are
now establishing code of ethics training reward
for notable ethical behavior.
 SCOPE OF OB
In a very broad sense, the scope of OB is the extent to which it can
govern or influence the operations of an organization. The scope of
OB integrates 3 concepts respectively:
Individual Behavior
It is the study of individual’s personality, learning, attitudes,
motivation, and job satisfaction. In this study, we interact with others
in order to study about them and make our perception about them.
Example: The personal interview round is conducted to interact with
candidates to check their skills, apart from those mentioned in the
resume.
Inter-individual Behavior
It is the study conducted through communication between the
employees among themselves as well as their subordinates,
understanding people’s leadership qualities, group dynamics, group
conflicts, power and politics.
Example: A meeting to decide list of new board members.
Group Behavior
Group behavior studies the formation of organization, structure of
organization and effectiveness of organization. The group efforts
made towards the achievement of organization’s goal is group
behavior. In short, it is the way how a group behaves.
Example: Strike, rally etc.
 OB – MODELS
Organizational behavior reflects the behavior of the people and management all
together, it is considered as field study not just a discipline. A discipline is an
accepted science that is based upon theoretical foundation, whereas OB is an
inter-disciplinary approach where knowledge from different disciplines like
psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc. are included. It is used to solve
organizational problems, especially those related to human beings.
There are four different types of models in OB. We will throw some light on
each of these four models.
AutocraticModel
The root level of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority.
The employees in this model are oriented towards obedience and discipline.
They are dependent on their boss. The employee requirement that is met is
subsistence. The performance result is less.
The major drawbacks of this model are people are easily frustrated, insecurity,
dependency on the superiors, minimum performance because of minimum
wage.
CustodialModel
The root level of this model is economic resources with a managerial
orientation of money. The employees in this model are oriented towards
security and benefits provided to them. They are dependent on the
organization. The employee requirement that is met is security.
This model is adapted by firms having high resources as the name suggest. It is
dependent on economic resources. This approach directs to depend on firm
rather than on manager or boss. They give passive cooperation as they are
satisfied but not strongly encouraged.
Supportive Model
The root level of this model is leadership with a managerial
orientation of support. The employees in this model are
oriented towards their job performance and participation. The
employee requirement that is met is status and recognition.
The performance result is awakened drives.
This model is dependent on leadership strive. It gives a climate
to help employees grow and accomplish the job in the interest
of the organization. Management job is to assist the
employee’s job performance. Employees feel a sense of
participation.
Collegial Model
The root level of this model is partnership with a managerial
orientation of teamwork. The employees in this model are
oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline. The
employee requirement that is met is self-actualization. The
performance result is moderate zeal. This is an extension of
supportive model. The team work approach is adapted for this
model. Self-discipline is maintained. Workers feel an
obligation to uphold quality standard for the better image of
the company. A sense of “accept” and “respect” is seen.